Flexibility in action: The temporary staffing industry in the Czech Republic and Poland

Since the 1990s the largest transnational temporary staffing agencies have progressively expanded the geographical extent of their operations. Moving beyond the established Dutch, French, UK, and US markets in which the majority are headquartered, and encouraged by supportive supranational and national reregulation, they have entered a number of countries in Southeast Asia, Southern Europe, and Latin America. Moreover, in the run-up to, and since, the accession of ten new member states to the EU on 1 May 2004, the leading transnational agencies have turned their attentions to establishing and expanding operations in Central and Eastern Europe. This paper offers an initial assessment of the state of temporary staffing and its regulation in two leading markets in the region, the Czech Republic and Poland. It explores how temporary staffing markets are being forged through the interactions between regulators, transnational agencies, local agencies, trade bodies, and inward investors. Both countries legalized temporary staffing in 2004, having begun the legalization process prior to accession. Rather than these developments heralding the start of a period of sustained growth, however, our research suggests that there are still significant constraints on expansion in markets where the pressure to neoliberalize labour markets intersects with postsocialist expectations, norms, and economic structures. © 2007 Pion Ltd and its Licensors.